During the time of disasters, I presume drinking water is one of the basic needs of survival. I wonder if any forumists can suggest any approach to get rid of the heavy metals and toxic halogens from the contaiminated water?
I already know we can remove the heavy metals by distillation, but the process of distillation requires electricity or a heat source to operate.
Another option is reverse osmosis (RO). However, the process of RO is time consuming.
What else can we do? The reason why I raised this issue is because I apparently discovered a solution. But i would like to see if there is any serious interest on this topic.
They sell small hand pump ceramic-based water filters for camping. Low volume, but they probably do a decent job and get rid of microorganisms.
There is this thing called boiling water and capturing the water vapor and turning it back in to pure water. I know it sounds tough but it can be done.
Berkey Water Machines remove everything. They even advertise that you can dump SWAMP WATER or SEWER WATER in them.
http://www.berkeywater.com/start.main.html
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=berkey&_sacat=See-All-Categories
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-WATER-FILTER-DISTILLER-PURIFIER_W0QQitemZ170461926596QQcmdZViewItemQQptZSmall_Kitchen_Appliances_US?hash=item27b05294c4
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I am also thinking about getting something like this. Although I know that we're talking about heavy-metal removal here, after searching throughout Berkleywater's site, there is not a single mention of fluoridation, even in the FAQ part dealing with reverse-osmosis - that is after-all the main purpose of RO - so, stating their products produce better water that RO-systems while completely avoiding the fluoridation issue is tantamount to a lie by omission of facts! They appear far more interested in "closing the deal" than supplying potential customers with impartial advice imo.
To remove Fluoride the Berkey Units need Fluoride Filters installed.
Fluoride Removal is VERY DIFFICULT for water filters.
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=berkey+fluoride&_sacat=See-All-Categories
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Quote from: Sprocket on March 24, 2010, 10:40:52 PM
I am also thinking about getting something like this. Although I know that we're talking about heavy-metal removal here, after searching throughout Berkleywater's site, there is not a single mention of fluoridation, even in the FAQ part dealing with reverse-osmosis - that is after-all the main purpose of RO - so, stating their products produce better water that RO-systems while completely avoiding the fluoridation issue is tantamount to a lie by omission of facts! They appear far more interested in "closing the deal" than supplying potential customers with impartial advice imo.
I think you are right. RO is the best option for removal of harmful halogens:
http://www.jisppd.com/article.asp?issn=0970-4388;year=2008;volume=26;issue=1;spage=6;epage=11;aulast=Prabhakar
I think activated carbon with iodine adsorption index greater 1500 is also a good option.
Just a separate note. If you are concerned about fluoride in the drinking water, then you may consider taking potassium iodide. Iodide can displace fluoride in the body.
Quote from: happyfunball on March 23, 2010, 06:04:06 AM
They sell small hand pump ceramic-based water filters for camping. Low volume, but they probably do a decent job and get rid of microorganisms.
Ceramics are a good idea.
Quote from: Azorus on March 23, 2010, 07:33:12 AM
There is this thing called boiling water and capturing the water vapor and turning it back in to pure water. I know it sounds tough but it can be done.
A source of heat may also be an issue in the conditions mentioned in the original post, And the berkley filters may not be around.
You could use a long pipe filled with fine sand, but you would have to treat the sand.
And then active carbon for the metals, but that would have to be treated too..
All treatments conditionally require a source of heat. IF you have a source of heat, then you may as well try an easier approach if you need water for the short term.
Incidentally, Fe3O4 (Magnetite, Black Iron) is used to remove As (Arsenic) from water. So, next time you are making your custom iron core, save some powder for emergency water treatment.
Though, I think you will need to compress it somehow into a solid, as diluting powder and drinking it might not be a good idea. :)
@FatBird - Ahaa, so they do at least provide a fluoride option, thanks for that! It does reflect badly on its efficacy when they do not promote it in the FAQ though. And yes, I realise that fluoride removal is very difficult (have a cheap RO unit) but was unaware that it could be effectively filtered, even in a reduced form. What bugs me is that the fluoride topic will certainly be one of the first a potential customer will enquire about - but it's not included in the FAQ! So it's not really a FAQ, more a "filtered" FAQ... ;D
@blueplanet - It would be so much easier if fluoridation was just banned outright! After years of preaching to my dear old ma about this and being humoured, she recently pointed me to a newly-bought medical dictionary that is absolutely damning regarding fluoride! So at least someone out there is seeing the light!
Quote from: amigo on March 28, 2010, 06:15:43 PM
Incidentally, Fe3O4 (Magnetite, Black Iron) is used to remove As (Arsenic) from water. So, next time you are making your custom iron core, save some powder for emergency water treatment.
Though, I think you will need to compress it somehow into a solid, as diluting powder and drinking it might not be a good idea. :)
no no no no no......
Iron is carcinogenic. Cancer cells are fed on iron.
Have a look on the following paper. For the first time, many studies (including this one) have consistently proved that activated carbon from walnut shells can effectively adsorb mercury and other metals:
http://www.haghighiasl.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=98&tmpl=component&format=raw&Itemid=22
For my part, I have done some experiments that confirm the findings of these studies. I have summarized the results of one of my experiments in the following article:
http://www.ehow.com/how_6124419_remove-hg-ions-water.html
There are several types of solar stills which can be used any time you have sunlight. Some are fairly basic to build in an emergency situation and with no electricity you can still get some very pure water this way.
Chlorine dioxide will do a better job than most things of killing any pathogens in water and since it is the basis of MMS (see http://www.miraclemineral.org/index.php ) you will also have a cure for many diseases.
Quote from: e2matrix on March 29, 2010, 11:47:53 PM
There are several types of solar stills which can be used any time you have sunlight. Some are fairly basic to build in an emergency situation and with no electricity you can still get some very pure water this way.
Chlorine dioxide will do a better job than most things of killing any pathogens in water and since it is the basis of MMS (see http://www.miraclemineral.org/index.php ) you will also have a cure for many diseases.
Mercury and compounds made with mercury are highly volatile at room temperature. Distillation does not work because, during the distillation process, both water and mercury can evaporate into vapor.
It is not difficult to disinfect water. All you need is to add a few drops of a iodine onto the unfiltered water. You can even add some colloidal silver as well. But removing the harmful chemcals from water is tricky.
i havnt got mercury or magnet available to try this
if you put magnet near mercury-would it move?
Quote from: blueplanet on March 29, 2010, 11:25:00 PM
no no no no no......
Iron is carcinogenic. Cancer cells are fed on iron.
So, basically what you are saying is that we should just kill ourselves, others and anyone who's born right away, because Iron is carcinogenic?
After all our BLOOD has IRON in its core...
Quote from: amigo on March 30, 2010, 09:31:58 PM
So, basically what you are saying is that we should just kill ourselves, others and anyone who's born right away, because Iron is carcinogenic?
After all our BLOOD has IRON in its core...
I don't undertand what you were talking about. The role of iron in cancer is pretty well known:
http://www.ironoverload.org/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19018762?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_MultiItemSupl.Pubmed_TitleSearch&linkpos=1&&log$=pmtitlesearch4
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8664805
Perhaps, some pseudo anti-government people from your government are telling you iron is an essential nutrient, but they never mention the toxicity of iron.
I have done some google search. Apparently, you are the only one who proposes the use of iron oxide as a adsorbent for water filtering. If this is a good idea for you, then go ahead. This is your choice anyway. I don't want to appear that I am taking away your freedom.
(EDIT: it seems that this discussion becomes increasingly poltitical.)
All I've said was that Fe3O4 could be used to remove As from water, and that idea did not come from me, as I read it elsewhere.
But saying that Iron is a carcinogenic, generally to me, is silly because our blood chemistry is based on Iron, and that was my second remark.
Of course it depends how and where Iron is bonded, just like anything else. For example, Fluorides are detrimental to human body, ie. Sodium Fluoride as by-product of Aluminium industry. Yet Calcium Fluoride is found naturally in many spring waters and does not pose a significant threat due to its insolubility.
Either way, please just read what I write and not between the lines, as there's nothing in-between them. :)